Fernando Alonso has admitted that Ferrari simply did not have the pace in Monaco, as he lost ground to Sebastian Vettel at the top of the drivers’ championship.

Alonso, who has won in Monaco twice before, started the race in 6th and held position until the race was red flagged. He was then ordered by the FIA to hand his position to Sergio Perez after cutting the chicane to stay ahead, but battles with Jenson Button and Adrian Sutil saw him lose even more ground. Eventually, Alonso came home in 7th after Raikkonen and Perez both dropped back in the final few laps.

“With a bit of Perez’s car in our front-wing we lost a bit of aerodynamic performance in the last part of the race,” Alonso explained to Sky Sports. “Even in the first part of the race, when everything was normal, we just didn’t have the pace.

“We know to understand why it happened and when we are back to Canada then I hope that everything will be back to normal.”

Alonso was also in a reflective mood when tweeting after the race had finished.

“In Canada, we will come back to our best level! Very important points today,” he told his fans on his official account.

Ferrari will be pleased to have come away with some points in Monaco, yet they will be disheartened by the ever-growing gap to Vettel and Red Bull in both championships.